A Tale of Venture Capital Wanted

His first stop had been the bookstore which cheerfully supplied 16 volumes on how to write a business plan, attract venture capital, and live a life of idle wealth. I glanced out the window and noticed that Al had traded his Porsche Boxster for a ‘97 GEO with a little rust under the door. As we talked, I turned to the marketing section of his two hundred page “Private Placement Offering Memorandum and Disclaimer”, the disclaimers added at great expense by his lawyer. As usual, “Marketing” started with the astounding statistic that there are 250 million people in the U.S. Once this population had been distilled down to the eye glass wearers, companies that supply them, and the 10% market share Al’s B2B exchange would attract, his projected third year sales were a conservative $78.6 million with a 16% after tax margin. I could easily see how everyone was going to get rich; i...